Nightmares
by marciaah1223
Summary: A one shot explaining how I think Bulma and Vegeta first got togheter. Set in the 3 years.


Author's Note: This is just a one shot, but for me, it's a pretty reasonable account of the union of my two favorite DBZ characters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters. I do, however, own a computer and have way too much time on my hands, thus my fanfiction.

Nightmares

Bulma Briefs was a beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, and powerful woman. She had integrity, generosity, and an unquenchable thirst for life. Of all of the ladies in Western Capital, she was by far the most eligible bachelorette on the market. She could have her pick of any man that held her attention for more than a second.

So why, then, was she in her room, alone on a Friday night, laying in her bed facing the ceiling with a pillow clutched tightly to her chest? Because, when it came to men, Bulma Briefs was as dumb as they got!

Vegeta ran down the corridor of the large ship, panting and confused. He had thought that this was over. He had thought he was free. Was it an illusion? A dream brought on in the regeneration tank on Namek? Vegeta, to his surprise had awoken on Frieza's spaceship.

'What's going on?' He internally asked himself. Just today, he could remember training in the Gravity Room with the blue haired woman screeching at him. He would never admit it to her, but he wished that she yelling at him right now. Because if she was, that would mean that he was not aboard Frieza's ship!

"You can run, but you can't hide, little monkey!" he heard the icy tones of the tyrannical overlord scrape across the flesh on the back of his neck.

'Impossible' he thought. But the more he ran, the more possible it seemed. After what seemed like an eternity running in a never-ending hallway, he came face to face with his greatest terror…Frieza!

"This isn't real..Kakarrot defeated you! Y.. came to Earth, and that strange boy sliced you in half! I saw it with my own eyes, damn it!" Vegeta screamed.

"Stupid Saiyan! Nobody can defeat me! I am Frieza. Your Super Saiyan doesn't exist. Your father sold you a pack of lies boy, and when you were deemed unworthy, he sold your worthless ass to me!" Frieza taunted the bewildered prince.

Bulma continued to lie in her bed, feeling sorry for herself. She didn't know why she had been so surprised. It wasn't as if Yamcha had proclaimed his undying love and devotion to her. They were both just having some kicks, and it had to end eventually.

"I just thought he would show me a little more respect" she quietly whispered to herself. She kept replaying the scene over in her head. She and Yamcha had planned to spend the night at his place, watching a cheesy old movie and munching on pizza. She had been in the capital shopping earlier and decided to head to his place early, since it was closer than hers. After several knocks on the door, she spotted his car in the driveway and decided to let herself in….only to witness the ugly romp fest happening on his couch. Yamcha was currently sitting on the sofa with some unnamed brunette riding him like a motorcycle.

If Bulma hadn't ran the moment she caught the two, she was sure she would have vomited right there in the prick's house!

"I just want to spend the night alone quietly, away from asshole men," she said to herself.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH" came the scream from down the hall.

'Too much to wish for I guess. That was Vegeta! He sounds like he's in trouble.' Bulma thought to herself.

She jumped out of bed and ran straight into the Saiyan Prince's room. She found him there, thrashing in the covers, with his face drenched in sweat.

"It's not a good idea to wake him up, but I can't leave him in that state." She said aloud.

"Now, you stupid monkey, take what's coming to you!" Frieza bellowed as he fired his death ray straight at Vegeta's heart. Vegeta stood there, unable to move, waiting for the inevitable. But it never came. He opened his eyes, to see the blue haired woman standing before him, and it had appeared that she had absorbed the blast. She looked at him, with those big blue eyes, and only smiled.

"You're safe now, Vegeta. I'm here with you, and you're safe." She repeated several times.

"Woman, how did you block that blast? It should have killed you. Get out of here now, Frieza will destroy us both!" Vegeta screamed at her.

Just as his warning left his mouth, he looked behind the woman and saw that Frieza had disappeared.

'What's going on?' he asked himself.

Bulma only repeated, "You're safe with me, Vegeta. I'm here and you're safe."

Bulma sat in Vegeta's bed, holding him close to her, rubbing his back, and repeating her comforting mantra over and over. Her mother had done this for her when she was a child, and it always helped with the nightmares.

Vegeta's eyes flew violently opened, and he found himself in the embrace of the woman.

He was stunned for only a second before he realized what had happened, and he jerked away from her suddenly.

Bulma was not surprised that Vegeta had backed off. In fact, she knew that he would be very angry with her for disturbing his privacy, and these may in fact, be her last moments. She stared at him in fear, awaiting the temper, then the ki blast that would end her life. What she got instead left her a little more frightened.

Vegeta, with all of his pride and arrogance, began weeping, then sobbing uncontrollably, and fell back into her arms. Bulma was stunned! She had no idea what was happening. But she knew that everyone loved a good cry once in a while, and she would not be the one to deny this man his Kami given right to have one. Hell, she was just seconds away from one herself earlier.

She continued to let him have it all out, stroking the back of his head, holding him tighter as he shook. She knew it would dissipate soon.

Finally, Vegeta spoke. "Woman, if anyone finds out about this, I will kill you." He threatened in a low growl.

'Was I really expecting a thank you?' she hurtfully thought to herself. "Don't worry, Vegeta, this stays between us. But at least my mystery is revealed."

"What are you talking about?" He demanded.

Bulma waited a few seconds, searching for the right words. "Well," she began, "everyday that you train in the gravity room, it gives me readout of your vital statistics. Lately, your progress has halted. In fact, you've been digressing." She told him, waiting for him to explode.

He only looked at her, with a glare, warning her that she had better explain fully, and quickly.

"Your physical makeup is not that different from ours, Vegeta. When you work out, your muscles tear and break themselves down, and you need rest to rebuild them. But if this is any indication of your nightly rest pattern, then it's no wander that you've been decreasing in muscle mass." She regretfully informed him.

Vegeta only sat there, with the most hopeless look on his face. After a minute of awkward silence, he finally spoke. "It's never enough. I thought if I trained hard enough, my father would be proud of me, but he still gave me to that bastard Frieza as if I was trash! Frieza told me if I did everything he wanted, he would let my father live, but he still killed him and destroyed the Saiyan planet! I thought if I stayed focused and channeled my anger, then one day I would avenge them. But instead, it was done by a low class imbecile who could care less about his heritage! And, I thought if I trained hard enough, I would reach Super Saiyan, but now I find out that my hard training is sending me backwards!" Vegeta finished his venting rant huffing and puffing.

Bulma couldn't help but be empathetic to the Saiyan's plight. There it was. The answer to why Vegeta was such a dick. Everything he fought and worked for in his life had gone terribly wrong. She tried to think of how she could help him, and went for the only answer she could think of.

"Vegeta," she began softly. "You're under a lot of pressure and you are only adding more stress to yourself. Goku became Super Saiyan because he had to. He had to protect the ones he loved. It wasn't a challenge to him, it was a necessity. I think that it has to be a necessity to you too. And I can give that to you." She finished.

Vegeta looked at her, disbelieving, but still he asked, "How?"

Bulma spoke. "Be MY hero, Vegeta. I believe deep down in my heart that you are going to reach Super Saiyan, because I have never seen anybody work so hard for something in my life. I need you to do it, so you can beat the androids. I need you to beat them, so I can go on living, in this world that I love. I need you to protect me, Vegeta." She pleaded.

"You have your precious hero Kakarrot. You don't need me woman. I owe you nothing." He accused.

Bulma responded. "You're wrong, Vegeta. Goku is Chichi's hero. He's Gohan's hero. He's Krillin's hero. But he's not my hero, Vegeta. If I wasn't here, he would still have a lot to defend."

Vegeta stared at Bulma, unbelieving at first, but slowly let the words sink in. And that's when he saw them. The tears.

"Why are you weeping?" he asked.

Now, Bulma was embarrassed. She really didn't think the Prince wanted to hear about her romantic troubles. "It's nothing, Yamcha and I just broke up tonight." She explained.

Vegeta looked at her for a moment, and then spoke up. "It happened later than I would have guessed." He spoke matter of factly.

She stared at him, puzzeled. "Why would you say that?"

He continued, "Because you were not in the same class. That weakling has a negligible fighting ki, he is low class dessert trash with no honor. He fights for recognition, not for the battle, not to 'protect you' as you put it. You have wealth, status, and beauty that could rival the most exquisite that I have seen in all of the galaxies. You have a big mouth, but always keep your position and carry yourself with a sense of regality. In reality, you deserve to mate with royalty." He finished.

Bulma stared at him in shock. How is it that the person to say exactly the things she needed to hear is the same person that just one day ago she had referred to as "the biggest jerk in the Universe?" Then, Vegeta's words hit Bulma like she never expected.

"Did you say royalty, Prince Vegeta?" She purred. Bulma leaned in and lightly kissed Vegeta's lips with her own, and then slipped her tongue in his mouth with a ferocity she had never used before.

When they stopped for air, Vegeta could only sit there stunned. "I didn't mean right now literally, woman!" He reprimanded her.

Bulma couldn't help but feel a little rejected. "Fine, tell me to leave, then I will leave, and we will never speak of this again." She told him.

He sat, silent, and she slowly started to get off of the bed. As she began to take her first steps to the door, his hand reached out and grabbed her arm. "Don't leave." It was a command. Vegeta pulled Bulma down into the bed for a night of passion that neither would forget.

After they finished, they lay in a sweaty embrace, both fast asleep. It would be the first night in a month that Vegeta had gotten a complete night's rest, and, unbeknownst to him, he and Bulma had just created what he needed to protect.

The End

Reviews and Flames welcome!


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